Phocaeicola abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic bacterium isolated from a human brain abscess sample.

A strictly anaerobic bacterial strain, 7401987T, was isolated from a human brain abscess sample. Cells were Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, coccoid to rod-shaped and motile by flagella in a lophotrichous arrangement. The isolate was asaccharolytic and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0 (28.2%), C16:0 (18.0%), iso-C15:0 (12.3%) and iso-C17:0 3-OH (11.7%). 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that the isolate was distantly related to members of the genera Bacteroides (<83.6% similarity), Parabacteroides (<79.9% similarity), Tannerella (<79.8% similarity), Dysgonomonas (<79.6% similarity), Porphyromonas (<79.3% similarity) and Prevotella (<78.9% similarity). The low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values and physiological and biochemical characteristics differentiated strain 7401987T from all known species and indicate that our isolate represents a novel species in a new genus within the phylum Bacteroidetes. The name Phocaeicola abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain of Phocaeicola abscessus is 7401987T (=CCUG 55929T=CSUR P22T=DSM 21584T).